The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of geranium, botanically known as Pelargonium peltatum, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Fismaxi’.
‘Fismaxi’ is a product of a planned breeding program which had the objective of creating new ivy geranium cultivars with semi-double to double flower type, zoned foliage, and about medium sized, well-branched growth habit, in various flower colors.
‘Fismaxi’ originated from a hybridization made by the inventor, Angelika Utecht, in a controlled breeding program in Hillscheid, Germany, in 2000.
The female parent was an unpatented hybrid plant, no. 97-2379-5, derived from a cross between the varieties ‘Fiscoral’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,995) and ‘Fizzard’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,992). The resulting seedling was characterized by orange-red flowers, deep green foliage, and about medium growth habit. The male parent of ‘Fismaxi’ was the unpatented plant No. 93-361-3, having deep red, semi-double flowers, large leaves with slight zonation, and long, trailing plant habit.
‘Fismaxi’ was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross by Angelika Utecht in 2001 in a controlled environment in Galdar, Gran Canaria, Spain.
The first act of asexual reproduction of ‘Fismaxi’ was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were taken from the initial selection in the fall of 2001, in a controlled environment in Galdar, Gran Canaria, Spain, by, or under the supervision of, Angelika Utecht.
Horticultural examination of plants grown from cuttings of the plant initiated in May of 2002 in Hillscheid, Germany, and continuing thereafter, has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for ‘Fismaxi’ are firmly fixed and are retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction.